Nanoha Takamachi
| gender = gender::Female | species = is a::Human | homeworld = | born = March 15,Triangle Heart 3 artbook, page 18. born::0056 | relatives = Takamachi family | affiliations = SAFA (A's epil. et seq.) member of::Riot Force 6 (StrikerS) member of::Special Duty Section 6 (Force) | rank = 2nd Air Captain (A's epil.) 1st Air Captain (StrikerS) | occupation = Contract Mage (A's ep.13) SAFA Tactics Teacher (A's epil.) | qualify = Tactics Teacher (A's epil.) Tactics Examiner (pre-''StrikerS'') Commander of Platoon (pre-''StrikerS'') | partner = Yuuno Scrya (Nanoha) Vita (SAFA, post-''StrikerS'') | magic_system = magic system::Midchilda | magic_color = magic color::Cherry blossom pink | magic_rank = AAA (mana cap.) (Nanoha) mage rank::S+; Air (StrikerS)[http://nanoha.julynet.jp/?%CB%E2%CB%A1%2FStrikerS#t86327bb Mage ranks in StrikerS] on the Japanese Nanoha wiki. | device = Raising Heart Exelion Strike Cannon (Force) Fortress (Force) | name_ja = 高町なのは | name_romaji = Takamachi Nanoha | first = | voices = (Triangle Heart) (Japanese) (English) }} is the central character of the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series and its sequels, originally appearing in Triangle Heart 3. The youngest child of the Takamachi family, Nanoha grew up in Uminari City, Japan, unaware of being one of the exceptional Earthlings with a capacity for magic. At the age of 9, she becomes involved in the Jewel Seed Incident and meets fellow mages Yuuno Scrya, who becomes her first mentor, and Fate Testarossa, a rival who later becomes Nanoha's lifelong partner. After receiving an artificially intelligent staff named Raising Heart from Yuuno, Nanoha shows extraordinary skills at mastering the Midchildan system of combat magic and, in the following decade, leaves Earth altogether to become a magical combat teacher for the Administrative Bureau. Name As an outstanding Air Captain in the Bureau, Nanoha is commonly addressed as the , or sometimes the .Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid, chapter 1.Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid, chapter 94. Her call signs in the extra forces include (Riot Force 6) and (Special Duty Section 6). Appearance Nanoha is , as she always holds Raising Heart in her left hand. In The MOVIE 1st, when Yuuno tells Nanoha to extend her dominant hand, she does so with the left one. from the series has an similar to Nanoha's Starlight Breaker, and her wand resembles Raising Heart with its pink-and-gold color scheme and a dark red jewel sphere. Personality In Nanoha, she is more of a thoughtful and somewhat naive girl. She has a deep, kind personality but later becomes much more mature and ladylike in the sequels. Nanoha is also rather energetic and idealistic, showing a certain joy of living. A major aspect of Nanoha's personality is that she always tries to understand other people. As such, she is shown to always take a diplomatic approach to problems and tries to reason with her enemies at first. However, she is also shown to be a pragmatic heroine, as she is not afraid to use force if communication alone is not enough. MOVIE 1st THE COMICS adds more aspects to her character. Before she became a magical girl, she was shown to be somewhat depressed, seemingly lacking a purpose in life. When she was little, she often felt helpless and wished for the strength to change things. In Nanoha As the series opens, Nanoha Takamachi is presented as an ordinary girl, living with her family, taking the bus to school and playing the gold-hearted average girl to her multimillionaire best friends Alisa Bannings and Suzuka Tsukimura. However, she always felt like a third wheel; her parents had each other, so did her siblings, and so did her best friends, while Nanoha had no such close companion. Additionally, she says she feels her life has no direction, as she has no plans for what she wants to do with herself. When she finds the injured Yūno in ferret form in the park, she brings him to a nearby veterinarian for care. Yūno later calls Nanoha telepathically as an unstable Jewel Seed attacks him, and he then gives her the red gem around his neck, known as Raising Heart. With his instructions, Nanoha activates Raising Heart, and discovers her own magical ability. Her powers blow Yuuno away as she is able to create attacks quickly, and senses Jewel Seeds more easily than he can. Even with all these powers, she is still learning and must fight off her rival (later dearest friend and partner) Fate Testarossa, although Nanoha is more interested in befriending her. Needless to say, she succeeds in befriending Fate, however her methodology has lead to an interesting pun. Nanoha lives at her home in residence::Uminari City with her mother Momoko, her father Shirō, her brother Kyōya and her sister Miyuki, the latter two of whom served as the main characters of Triangle Heart. She balances cram school, regular school and hunting for Jewel Seeds with ease, although Yuuno fears that it may be too much for her in the long run. Although she tries to hide her identity from her friends and family, in contrast to many series, she blatantly advertises it to Fate. Later on, the series focuses not on the collection of Jewel Seeds but on the eventual team up of Nanoha and Fate, which does happen in the second-to-last episode as Fate comes to terms with her and her mother's identities. Nanoha and Fate must part as Fate is arrested for the work she did for Presea Testarossa, but they part as friends and promise to reunite, as Fate will likely be acquitted of all charges. In A's In A's, Nanoha may be living in peacetime, but she has not let her work slide. She goes out early in the morning each day and trains with Raising Heart. One night, she is attacked by one of the Wolkenritter, Vita, and is defeated due to the differences in their weapons. However, she teams up with Fate, who saves her and manages to hold Vita back until Signum enters while Yuuno brings Nanoha to a safe place. Alph, Yuuno and the Arthra crew help Nanoha and Fate escape from Vita's force field which is successful, but not without Shamal stealing Nanoha's Linker Core which makes her lose most of her mana. It is later revealed that their new mission is to prevent the Wolkenritter from stealing mages' Linker Cores for their Book of Darkness. On another hand, Nanoha introduces Fate to her two friends Arisa and Suzuka as a transfer student (though they had initially met via Nanoha and Fate's video messages), and resumes her life as a magical and school girl, helping Fate to get used to her new life on Earth. After being introduced by Suzuka, Nanoha and Fate later meet a sickly girl named Hayate Yagami. When visiting Hayate at the hospital on Christmas Eve, they encounter the Wolkenritter, and find out that Hayate is the master of the Book of Darkness, as well as the reason why the Wolkenritter are collecting pages for the Book. They sooner face off against the Wolkenritter, who wish to silence them for knowing their master's identity. However the match is interrupted by two masked men (later revealed to be the Liese twins), who trap them in binds and Crystal Cage, and impersonate them to mislead Hayate that it is Nanoha and Fate who kill the Wolkenritter after using their Linker Cores to fill the last pages of the Book of Darkness. Nanoha and Fate are then forced to fight the Will of the Book of Darkness, who has entered a reverse unison with Hayate. During the fight, Suzuka and Alisa discover their true identities when they try to protect them from attacks. Eventually, they are able to save Hayate and the Will of the Book of Darkness, which then becomes Reinforce, Hayate's partner and weapon. Between A's and StrikerS , A's Sound Stage 03, , and StrikerS Sound Stage M expand on what happens to the characters between A's and its sequel, StrikerS. After few months of qualification acquisition, examinations and trainings, Nanoha officially joins the Administrative Bureau in May 0066 as an Armed Forces ,Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Starter Book. with stated intention of entering the Tactical Instructor divisions.Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's THE COMICS, chapter 7 equivalent ("The Epilogue of ACES"). In the second half of the same year, she is promoted as a formal Armed Forces officer. However, during an armed force drill along Vita and other cadets in the second winter after they join the Bureau (late 0067), Nanoha is severely injured by a then-unidentified Type-IV Gadget Drone, mainly due to exploitation of mana since the past battles.Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, episode 9. As a result, Nanoha needs to stay in the hospital for two months.Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 2nd A's, commentary audio track (representing primary continuity in 0079 and 0081). She returns to her work position in the summer of 0068, and further acquires the mage rank of S when autumn comes. Eventually, Nanoha enters the Aerial Tactical Instructor Corps in the spring of 0069, at the age of 13.Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Sound Stage M The StrikerS, track 3. The first part of (ch.1-3) occurs in April 0071, nominally six years after A's and four years before StrikerS anime series. In it, Nanoha is in her third year of junior high school. She has now achieved her dream position in the Aerial Tactical Instructor Corps and is part of a tactical combat training group. As she explains to Reinforce Zwei, this group's duties include testing new equipment and spells, researching tactics and strategy, and training TSAB combat personnel through combat simulations. Chrono Harlaown, in a separate conversation, refers to her as one of the best instructors in the Bureau. In StrikerS Nanoha, at the age of 19 years old, has grown more mature over the 4-year time gap since 0071. Like Fate, she now possesses mage rank of S+, although it is usually limited at AA, 2.5 ranks down from what she should be, due to the structuring constraints of Riot Force 6, Hayate's extra force where she is seconded to. She is the commander of member of::Forward Stars, as well as the primary tactical teacher for the whole Riot Force 6.Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, episode 2. As a result of her previous injury, she has intentionally designed the Riot Force 6's training regiment to ensure the same thing will not happen to the Forward members.Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, episode 9. Nanoha is first seen in the season with Raising Heart Exelion, checking the field for Subaru Nakajima and Teana Lanster's examination. When the pair reach their goal, Nanoha comes in to stop them from crashing. After gathering the members of the newly formed Riot Force 6, Nanoha begins to train the new recruits, Subaru, Teana, Caro Ru Lushe and Erio Mondial (who have both taken in by Fate). Later in the season, Nanoha becomes Vivio's guardian or, as Vivio calls her, Mama, and looks after Vivio along with Fate who is her godmother (though Nanoha later officially adopts Vivio). Near the end of the season, Riot Force 6 deals with the Saint's Cradle going into orbit. Nanoha enters the cradle, along with Vita, and they split up, with Nanoha going to the "Throne Room" and Vita going to the engine room. Nanoha quickly deals with Dieci, one of the Numbers specialised in bombardment, using her Blaster System, before entering the Throne Room, where Vivio is being held. Quattro manipulates Vivio, forcing Nanoha and Vivio to fight each other. During the fight, Nanoha uses Wide Area Search to find the place where Quattro is hiding and knocks her out by blasting a hole through the Cradle with Divine Buster under level 3 of the Blaster System. However, Vivio still does not revert back to her normal self and continues to fight Nanoha until Vivio manages to begin to regain control, but still cannot gain complete control, and Nanoha is forced to use her Blaster System at full power, firing five beams of Starlight Breaker at the same time, which then reverts Vivio back to her normal self. Later, Subaru and Teana come in to save Nanoha, Vivio and Hayate (who comes to save Nanoha). In the epilogue of StrikerS, Nanoha is offered many promotions, all of which are turned down in favour of her current position as a tactical teacher. She now also lives with Vivio, and checks up on her every so often, even when she is in school. In ViVid In ViVid, which takes place four years after StrikerS, Nanoha, now 23, is living on residence::Midchilda and raising Vivio. Shortly after Vivio enters fourth grade, she gives her a device named Sacred Heart. In , she and Fate organize a trip to Carnaaji for Vivio and her friends. She also uses this opportunity to get to know Einhard Stratos, whom she thanks for looking after Vivio, much to Einhard's embarrassment. In , she, Subaru, Teana, Fate, Caro, and Erio participate in a spectacular mock battle. In the team battle on the second training day, Nanoha takes the Center Guard position of the Blue Team, opposing Teana. In , Nanoha is showed to talking with Fate about how Vivio's strength has improve since last time against her in mock battle on Carnaaji, she is prepare to fight against Vivio with her full power in Exceed Mode to know how strong she was now. In ViVid Strike! Nanoha only makes brief cameo appearances along with Fate, e.g. in when Vivio mentions Einhard's lunch with the Nakajimas, and in in a flashback of Vivio. In Force and Fortress]] Nanoha first appears in chapter 4 when she meets up with Subaru at a dimension port on Midchilda (though before that, she is also seen in the prologue chapter, when Vivio sees her off on a "business trip"). As they walk together, Nanoha comments that she has not worked with Subaru since Riot Force 6. Subaru asks her opinion on "the new equipment", to which Nanoha expresses moderate approval, saying that she and Vita will have to test them more later. She then asks Subaru about Thoma Avenir, whom Subaru has introduced to her earlier. In chapter 7, Nanoha is at the Caledfwlch Techniques testing facility, finalizing the adjustments to her AEC Armament known as Strike Cannon. Raising Heart also asks to fine-tune Fortress, Nanoha's second AEC Armament, when they are ordered to scramble to assist Signum, who has been engaging Cypha of Hückebein in battle on Ruwella. Alternate continuities ''Triangle Heart'' Nanoha is a side character in appears in::Triangle Heart 3 at the age of 8. She is childlike and makes cute sounds as reactions, and is more than willing to help around the house when asked. She is nicknamed the "Digital Girl" by her family as she, despite being the youngest, is the only family member who is proficient at using modern electronics. She has an affection toward cute animals, and as a result she spends most of her time going to the shrine to play with a small fox named Kuon owned by Nami Kanzaki, a part-time shrine maiden. As she is not one of the main heroines Kyouya can choose in the game, she does not do much but will take the role of the protagonist in some of the extra scenarios in the game. At age 12 in the Triangle Heart OVA, Nanoha now works at the Midori-ya cafe. She spends much of her work time breaking up fights between combat waitresses Akira and Ren, who, afraid of her reaction, pretend to be the best of friends around her. Nanoha is still rather childlike, though, squealing whenever she sees her older siblings or Fiasse on TV. Nanoha is taken to the Tokyo concert of Crystela Music Academy, but is spared the violent scenes that go on before the show. Her closest friend is Kuon, and in an extra scenario she befriends Alisa Lowell, the foundation of MGLN's Alisa Bannings. However, in this world, Alisa is actually a ghost who is trapped on Earth due to a tragic incident when she was living and could not leave due to an unfufilled desire. Kuon helped Alisa realize what she needed and with the thought of Nanoha being her friend, she happily passed on to the afterlife. Nanoha cried over not being able to see Alisa again, but knew that it was the right thing. A major event in the life of this version of Nanoha is the death of her father. When Shirō died, Momoko was pregnant with Nanoha, and thus the child grew up without a father. The CD drama Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha from a Triangle Heart CD led to the spinoff. ''Lyrical Toy Box'' After the CD drama came the Triangle Heart fan box ~appears in::Lyrical Toy Box~, which included a three-minute music video-style movie that appeared to be the prototype for the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series. Lindy, a pixie in this version, accompanies Nanoha, as well as Kuon, a that is able to transform into a real fox, apparently used here as a precursor to Yūno. Nanoha, in her older Toraha design, actually transformed into the outfit that in the actual Nanoha anime is her civilian school uniform. Raising Heart's jewel form and original password did not change, but it had only one weapon form, a typical pink wand with a big plastic heart on it, similar to the weapons of many traditional magical girls such as . As Fate did not exist, Nanoha's rival was Chrono Harlaown. This led to a mini-game in the Box, outlining the plot. Lindy, as a pixie from the Dream World, gives Nanoha powers so she can save the people of Earth. Chrono is stealing their memories, which he needs to save his world. In the end, Nanoha ends up with Chrono in an epilogue similar in purpose to that of A's. Movie Nanoha appears in , and , as well as in the standalone . Portable Nanoha appears in both and . Brave Duel , similar to her initial appearance in the primary continuity, is an elementary school student of Uminari City. However, she is studying Year 4 in Private Kaisei Elementary School instead of Year 3 in Seishou Elementary School. Powers uses::flight Nanoha, despite her lack of experience, has demonstrated considerable magical talent at such young age. Many of her techniques are taught by Yuuno or improvised from already-learned abilities. She specializes in shooting and bombardment spells, but has a balanced set of abilities, with variations in both defensive and offensive powers. Although she is not as agile as Fate, she has higher defensive power and more precise control over projectiles. Nanoha's magic color is officially ,Nanoha's character profile in The MOVIE 1st website. and her command phrase for her shooting spells is "Shoot!" or sometimes "Fire!" (post-''A's''). Before joining the Administrative Bureau, Nanoha has a mana capacity class of AAA. She acquires mage rank of S in 0068, and later S+ as possessed in StrikerS. However in StrikerS, it is also notable that, due to constraints on an army force under the Bureau, her usual power is reduced from S+ to AA rank under the effect of a limiter. Nanoha's incantation for using Raising Heart (later Raising Heart Exelion), her Intelligent Device, is "Lyrical! Magical!" Although she calls this out for complex abilities (such as Raising Heart's Sealing Mode), once the ability is unlocked she seldom needs to use the incantation, except to seal Jewel Seeds. In A's she uses the phrase to kick off a training exercise. Since StrikerS, she and Raising Heart Exelion additionally implement the experimental power booster called Blaster System, which further increases Nanoha's raw energy output. Apart from her natural magical power, Nanoha is shown to be remarkably skilled and tactically smart. As such, she is able to defeat Fate in Nanoha and Heiliger Kaiser Vivio in StrikerS, despite presumably having lower magical power at those points. Barrier Jacket Nanoha usually sets up her Barrier Jacket when activating Raising Heart. The "transformation" was intended to be performed with a long passphrase,"I am the one who gives you this charge: release your power to your contracted master. As the winds fill the sky, and the stars fill the heavens, so shall my heart fill with courage, and my hands with magic! Raising Heart, set up!" but Nanoha only uses this incantation in its entirety once before discarding it,In , she uses a revision of the last sentence: "As the winds fill the sky, and the stars fill the heavens, so let light fill my arms, and strength fill my heart! Raising Heart, set up!" and later simply replaced by "Raising Heart, onegai!" ("Raising Heart, please!") or "Raising Heart, set up!" Nanoha's Barrier Jacket is a blue and white dress with a metal waist guard, styled after the Seishou Elementary School uniforms for girls, as Yuuno tells her to imagine on her own due to the urgency in . In The MOVIE 1st, despite similar design, it becomes an optimal selection by Raising Heart instead. Her Barrier Jacket has several updates or variations as follows: * mode::Sacred Mode: An improved version of Nanoha's Barrier Jacket after Raising Heart's upgrade in A's, including field generators on the shoulders, gloves, and other defensive enhancements. * mode::Exelion Mode: Sharing the same name of Raising Heart Exelion's Full Drive, this further enhanced Barrier Jacket variation is arranged for limit operation. They together strengthen defensive power and instant acceleration.Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 2nd A's, DVD/BRD Booklet, Magic Dictionary #56. It only appears in The MOVIE 2nd A's so far. * mode::Aggressor Mode:Aggressor Mode was shown on the gem of and cast by Raising Heart as "Aggressive Mode" in the episode, however the other canon references (e.g. DVD booklet) reveal that the proper name should be Aggressor Mode, which is likely derived from the official name of Aerial Tactical Instructor Corps. Further improvement of Nanoha's default Barrier Jacket as seen in StrikerS. Design changes include the replacement of the long skirt with a mini-skirt, a waist-attached cape and the inclusion of long white socks and gems (probably field generators) on the shoes. * mode::Exceed Mode: Debuting in StrikerS episode 12, Nanoha uses this variation in set with Raising Heart in Exceed Mode. Its design is similar to that of Sacred Mode, although it is bulkier. Much of the direction of the series was apparently influenced by the resemblance between Nanoha's Barrier Jacket concept art and a . The final design bears a resemblance to the of . Spells Nanoha's signature most powerful spell is Starlight Breaker, which has so far only been replicated by Teana Lanster (her only student to learn it) and Reinforce (who used a stolen copy stored in the Book of Darkness). Although in The MOVIE 1st, the casting process of Starlight Breaker is altered slightly, the general principle of collecting dispersed leftover mana from the battlefield remains the same; in the movie, it is also much more destructive. In the games Popularity Nanoha is one of the most popular Japanese anime characters in recent years. She has entered 's for four times, becoming champion in 2005, entering the top 16 in 2006 (lost to Fate Testarossa), and top 8 in 2007 (lost to Rena Ryugu) to become one of the few characters to enter the top 16 thrice (Shinku, Suiseiseki), and to enter top 8 twice (Sora Naegino, Shinku, Tsukasa Hiiragi). In 2008 her performance degraded significantly, as the anime has been concluded for too long at the time of the tournament, and she lost a close match to Shana in the third round, ending up in the top 32 group. Still, her career statistic of 16 wins against 3 losses remains a "lifetime achievement" record in the history of saimoe. Ironically, Nanoha was also included in the SaiGAR2007 voting tournament, which was intended to elect the manliest anime character, although she only won one match before being defeated. Nanoha is often nicknamed (or , reminiscent of ) by her fans with awe, referring to and the in-universe nickname for his in the . Fans also compared her to the from since they both have the same theme colours, or even its pilot and the series' main protaganist, due to sharing a similar hair and eye colour combination (brown/purple). This comparison was reinforced with the Freedom's upgraded replacement, , which is equipped with a system. The DRAGOON system on the Strike Freedom includes multiple wireless remotely-controlled beam cannon pods, and are, like Nanoha's Blaster Bits, inspired by the Funnels of Universal Century Gundam. It is also believed that this title was attached to her since Vita called her "Akuma..." (devil) in A's episode 9, and she answered "Fine, I'm a devil, so I'll have to use my hellish weapons to make you listen!", as well as the running joke amongst fans about her "befriending" the opposition with superior firepower. Another nickname that Nanoha is called by fans is actually a pun on the title . While means "Magical Girl", can be interpreted as "Demonic Cannon Girl". Nanoha is also well-known for her befriending abilities, implying that anyone hit by her attacks is going to "suffer" character development toward the good side sooner or later. This was first observed when she slapped Arisa prior to the first series and then spread through to Fate, Vita, Dieci and Vivio through the rest of the series as a whole. A popular motto for the character is "Listen or be shot," a popular meme which originates from her line in the first episode of Nanoha A's while fighting Vita and preparing to fire her Divine Buster: Nanoha: "Listen..." Raising Heart: "Divine..." Nanoha: "...to me!" Raising Heart: "...Buster." Gallery References Category:Characters